Through IndiaAI, we will develop indigenous AI foundational models: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar was speaking at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram

Through the ambitious Rs 10,372 crore IndiaAI mission, the government expects to develop homegrown AI foundational models based on the country's various languages and datasets, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on March 11.

Addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, Chandrasekhar said, "We will be developing our own Indian foundational models. The world is talking about ChatGPT. Based on our own languages and India datasets, we expect that as a consequence of IndiaAI mission, we will have sovereign AI models and foundational models designed in India and built in India."

Chandrasekhar also said that around Rs 2,000 crore is being set aside to fund startups as part of the IndiaAI initiative. "This will go to as investment into startups from young built by young Indians all around the country," he said.

Also read: Decoding IndiaAI: Inside India's Rs 10,372-crore plan to boost AI infrastructure

The Union Cabinet on March 7 approved the ambitious Rs 10,372-crore  IndiaAI initiative whose ambit encompasses creating computing infrastructure for the country, AI centres for multi-modal LLMs, 10,000 graphics processing units and more.

Create AI compute infra

A major focus of the initiative is to create computing infrastructure that can be used by startups and entrepreneurs who are working in the AI ecosystem.

"AI computes or AI data centers are the fundamental backbone to training AI models. And one of the advantages that some of the countries in the West who have created AI models is that they have access to this kind of infrastructure. And as part of building digital infrastructure, IndiaAI will build this AI compute infrastructure," he said.

Collecting non-personal data

Under the IndiaAI program, the government will also bring in the India Datasets Platform to make non-personal data available to companies.

On that, Chandrasekhar said, "We have already passed a data protection law and therefore, for artificial intelligence, datasets are the raw material and therefore, there will be a non-personal data collection platform, that will be available only for Indian startups and companies and not for foreign companies."

10 AI labs in Thiruvananthaparam

The minister of state for electronics and IT also announced that 10 AI labs will be established across 10 colleges in Thiruvananthapuram.

Chandrasekhar said, "10 AI labs will be set up in 10 colleges in Thiruvananthapuram under the IndiaAI Mission... The infrastructure comprising hardware, software, and skilling programs will be provided to these 10 colleges with AI labs. These AI labs will be set up in collaboration with leading global tech companies as partners in Thiruvananthapuram."

The minister is the BJP candidate for Thiruvananthapuram for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He will be contesting against the incumbent MP from the constituency, Congress' Shashi Tharoor.